Texas should clear a path for the nation to follow in solving looming health care and education crises, Corpus Christi's two leading Republicans said Monday at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold and state Rep. Todd Hunter offered their perspectives on a range of topics — including the Affordable Care Act and immigration reform — during a question-and-answer session moderated by the Texas Tribune in front of about 200 people.

Hunter, who is about to begin his seventh term in the Texas House, and Farenthold, set to begin his second term in Congress, stood behind Gov. Rick Perry's refusal to accept federal expansion of Medicaid benefits made available by 2009 federal health care reform legislation.

He said Perry's stance on expansion is the proper one, given the large number of unknowns found in the fine print of the law, particularly those related to state-run health exchanges.

"It's a serious issue — just like education — both need to be seriously looked at ... and we need to take a positive perspective," Hunter said.

Smith reminded Hunter and Farenthold of Texas' large uninsured population as a historic fact and as a percentage of the latest census data.

Farenthold said the numbers skew reality by suggesting those who do not have insurance do not have access to health care.

"There's more of a psychological crisis than there is a national crisis," he said.

Those who need care can get it at the emergency room, he said.

"I think Texas is doing the right thing by going slow," he said. "Because we still don't have all the regulations out of the federal agencies on the implementation of (the act)."

He said Texas' tort reform legislation offers a national template for lowering hospitals' costs by freeing clinical staff to address patient needs rather than worrying about lawsuits.

What is working, Farenthold said, is the growing trend in Texas to solve public health needs locally.

Such an option partners county health districts with local health care systems, shifting the burden of caring for uninsured patients to private hospitals while allowing hospitals increased access to state and federal dollars needed to take care of them.

Hunter told Smith he is in favor of more transparency from the federal government in the health care reform process, using as an example the way Democrats shoehorned the act through the Senate.

"The Affordable Care Act was not transparent," he said. "We have hospitals here ... were they included? We have doctors and nurses here, were they included? And we have amendments where Nebraska gets exempted from the taxation ... I say the biggest problem is with how it's handled."

Hunter said he expects the Legislature to take a hard look at the insurance business and public health policies in the coming session in regards to rural and metropolitan health care needs.

He said he would prefer to let health care professionals dictate how care is provided.

Farenthold said what is unfolding in Washington is something deeper than partisan bickering about specific issues. He said it is a conversation about the fundamental direction the nation is headed.

Farenthold and Hunter agreed that government should be more enterprising in its approach to carving out revenue streams. Doing so effectively removes from the table any discussion about whether to raise taxes, they said. Hunter cited the cruise ship industry as one such example.